Astronauts Explore Jupiter Moon Europa in Sci-Fi Film

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A team of astronauts heads to Jupiter's ice-covered moon Europa
in search of alien life.

If that sounds too good to be true, space geeks, that's because
it is. The mission described above will take place onscreen, when
the independent sci-fi film " Europa
Report " hits theaters (likely sometime next year, though no
release date has yet been announced).

While "Europa Report" is fiction, it tries hard to get much of
the science right, officials said. The filmmakers worked
extensively with scientists at NASA and the agency's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., to give audiences an
authentic vision of what a journey to Europa might look like,
according to Wayfare Entertainment, which is producing "Europa
Report."

Astrobiologists are indeed mightily intrigued by Europa, which
has a diameter of about 1,900 miles (3,200 kilometers).

The moon appears to harbor a huge ocean of liquid water beneath
its icy shell. Further, this ocean is likely in direct contact
with Europa's rocky mantle, making a variety of complex chemical
reactions possible. And tidal heating of the moon's interior
provides an energy source that potential organisms could harness
to power their metabolic processes, researchers say.

Plans are afoot to get a better look at the enigmatic moon. The
European Space Agency is developing a mission called JUICE
(Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer), which would launch in 2022 to
investigate Europa and its sister satellites Ganymede and
Callisto. NASA, for its part, is looking into ways to study
Europa from orbit or during multiple flybys.

JUICE and NASA's concept missions to Europa are unmanned. A
manned flight to the icy
moon, as depicted in "Europa Report," is many years
away. But that's what makes it science fiction.

"Europa Report" stars, among others, Sharlto Copley ("District
9") and Michael Nyqvist (the Swedish versions of "The Girl with
the Dragon Tattoo" and its sequels). The movie features music
from Bear McCreary ("Battlestar Galactica").